Thermal dye printers typically use precut dye print receiver media sheets. During the print operation a receiver media sheet and donor roll are driven past the thermal print head leaving an imprint on the dye print receiver media. It is important that the receiver media pass the printer head in perfect alignment with the print head. In addition, the receiver media must pass at a constant rate to insure a good print quality. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,663 a thermal print mechanism uses an elastic platen roller which is extended at both ends with high rigidity members that can hold the thermal receiver media sheet during and between the printing of color planes. One shortcoming of this design is associated with the difficulty of driving a sheet in a parallel path with two rollers in parallel planes on each side of the receiver media sheet. Often this arrangement causes bunching, crimping, or binding of the receiver media sheet when transported in reciprocating directions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,390 also discloses a sheet feeding device having a pair of rotatable rollers each having rotary shafts in parallel planes of the media receiver sheet.
Another problem associated with thermal print mechanisms is the use of grit rollers to feed and align the receiver media sheet. The grit has a tendency to fall off the rollers and damage the print head. U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,457 discloses a receiver media sheet picker mechanism. This device discloses a complex mechanical device having dual picker wheels connected by a wheel shaft. When actuated, the receiver media is urged along a print path towards the print mechanism. The problem associated with this arrangement is that the picker mechanism is subject to frequent mechanical break downs and its complex design adds to the cost of the thermal printer. Additionally, this arrangement does not accommodate both a forward and reverse direction of the dye receiver media.